Strive For Rest

The Old Testament reading this morning comes from the 21st chapter of the book of

Joshua.

I'll begin reading in verse 43.

Thus the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give their fathers, and he took

possession of it, and they took possession of it, and they settled there.

And the Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their fathers.

Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies

into their hands.

Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed to.

All came to pass.

Please remain standing.

The New Testament scripture reading is in Revelation chapter 14, starting in verse 9.

And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast

and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the

wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be

tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night, these worshipers

of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in

Jesus.

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Write this, blessed are the dead who die in the

Lord from now on.

Blessed indeed, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors and for their deeds follow them.

You may be seated.

Take your Bibles this morning.

Let's turn to Hebrews chapter 4.

You follow with me as I read the first 13 verses of this chapter.

Hebrews 4, verses 1 through 13.

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear, lest any of you should

seem to have failed to reach it.

For good news came to us just as to them, but the blessing they heard did not benefit them, because they were

not united by faith with those who listened.

For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said.

As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest.

Although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.

For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way, and God rested on the seventh day from all his

works.

And again in this passage he said, they shall not enter my rest.

Since, therefore, it remains for some to enter it.

And those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience.

Again, he appoints a certain day, today, saying through David, so long afterward,

in the words already quoted, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

For whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Let us, therefore, strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of

disobedience.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two -edged sword, piercing to the division of

soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of

him to whom we must give account.

Let's pray.

Father, now open the text of scripture to us in a way that doesn't just give us some facts to learn,

but causes us to question our hearts and to look to you only for our hope.

Thank you for this word, which, in every situation of life, explains things.

Every situation of life gives us understanding, gives us power.

Help us to pay attention to this living and active word this morning.

And we'll thank you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So what's your dream vacation?

What is your dream vacation?

A couple of weeks ago, I got back, or we got back from a week of vacation, a beautiful vacation.

I got up every morning at 5 o 'clock and went out and picked sweet corn for about three hours every morning.

And the breakfast, well, the breakfasts were phenomenal.

Of course they were, because after three hours of work in the morning, you're starving.

And so those were good.

Actually, it was a great vacation.

We had a wonderful time with the family out there.

But dream vacations don't just happen, do they?

They don't just happen.

You have to plan where you're going.

You've got to find and pack the right clothes, and then pack not too much,

but not too little either.

You have to find and make reservations at all the hotels you're going to be staying at.

Or you have to get all the camping equipment together and get all that

packed.

Who's going to take care of the house and the pets while you're gone on vacation?

So a great deal of effort goes into just relaxing, right?

So it is with the rest that God promises the people of God.

You have to strive to enter that rest.

Look at verse 11 again in chapter 4.

Let us, therefore, strive to enter that rest, so that no

one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

Now you recall, in an effort to show us that Jesus is superior to Moses, earlier in chapter 3, he's

told us that Moses was a servant in the house.

Jesus is the builder of the house.

And he says to us that you are that house if you hold

fast to the end, the confidence you held at first in Jesus.

And then he launches into his sermon telling you that persevering faith leads

to a rest for the people of God.

But he warns you that like the wilderness generation, you're in danger of hardening your heart

and not achieving that rest.

Last week we saw that the rest remains, and that you must be careful lest you fall short.

This, in our text this morning, he tells you that you must strive to enter that rest.

Last week, be careful that you don't fall short.

This week, strive to enter that rest.

I'm going to read our text another time this morning.

Verses 6 through 13.

Since, therefore, it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter

because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, today, saying through David, so long

afterward, and the words already quoted, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.

So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

For whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works, as God did from his.

Let us, therefore, strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall

by the same sort of disobedience.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two -edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of

spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to

whom we must give an account.

Now, verses 6 through 10 funnel you down to verse 11.

Those verses tell you, you need to know these things, so you strive.

And so they funnel us down to verse 11.

The pastor communicates those truths in order to move you to action, in order to encourage you to

strive to enter that rest.

And so the whole purpose of this passage is for you to strive

to enter that rest.

Now, the first thing he says in verses 6 through 8 is, strive because a rest remains.

You need to strive for it because there remains yet a rest of God.

Again, the theme of this sermon comes through.

A rest remains, verse 6.

I can get away with saying the same thing every week because the text is doing that, right?

I'm sure you'd get tired of it if I did that.

But he's doing it again.

He's telling you, there's a rest that remains.

And he reasserts that again, that those who believe enter the rest.

Not only that, but that those who do not enter, do not enter because of disobedience.

The implication being, so don't disobey, strive for obedience.

Now, notice again, I want you to notice again the connection between faith and obedience.

If you believe the good news, you will step out in obedience, right?

Notice, he says here, they didn't enter because of disobedience.

Earlier, he's told us they didn't enter because of unbelief.

What's the connection?

Well, the connection is the fact that, remember, the wilderness generation, standing on the

very banks of the Jordan, are told, go in and take the land.

The good news had been preached to them.

I have given you this land by covenant to your forefathers.

I have promised to drive out the inhabitants before you.

I'm giving you this land, so march in and take it.

It's guaranteed.

But what did they do?

They stood on the banks of the Jordan and refused to go into the land, right?

How do you know they didn't believe?

Because they didn't obey.

They did not obey.

They stood at the edge of the Jordan.

That disobedience revealed their unbelief.

They were disobedient.

Now, the rest is still open.

This rest is still open to the faithful, but closed to the

disobedient.

And so, it still exists because it's still open.

It still exists.

Now, one of the favorite things I've loved to do, and I haven't done it for a couple of years, is go to the Iowa

State Fair.

What a phenomenal thing that is.

I loved going to the State Fair in Iowa.

Let's just say you're saying, okay, I'm going to go into Des Moines, and I don't

know, I can't remember the dates.

Is the fair open today?

So you go and you walk up to the gates, and you see some people are turned away because they don't have tickets, but

the people with tickets get in.

What does that tell you?

The fair is still going, right?

It hasn't come to an end.

The fair is still open.

And so, because people enter it, people who are disobedient don't, but the faithful do.

We know that it's still open.

Now, not to put too fine a point on it, God says the opportunity to enter is still available.

Okay?

I don't know about you, I'm getting the point here.

There's a rest that remains, and it's still our opportunity to enter it.

I don't know if you're getting that point, but I sure am.

And so in verse 7, he says, that opportunity to enter is still available to you.

You still have this opportunity.

First of all, how do you notice you still have this opportunity?

Because of the timing of the warning.

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

Now, he said that through David.

The warning comes through David 400 years after that incident on the Jordan.

The warning about missing the rest comes from God centuries later, and so it's

clear the opportunity still exists.

It existed for them.

But again, he says, today.

It's called today.

You know you can still achieve the rest, because it's still today.

Right?

So you have a favorite Taco Bell right up the street from you.

You go there all kinds of times.

You love Taco Bell.

But through no fault of its own, it gets enough business.

Somehow the central office has determined that they're going to close this Taco Bell.

And so you go up there and you see, well, it'll go all the way till 5 o 'clock

tomorrow.

But it's today.

Right?

You still can get your Chalupa.

It's still today.

And that's what he's saying to us here.

It's still today.

Today still is there.

You have the opportunity still, but the warning also still applies.

It's still today.

So do not harden your hearts.

Do not let sin's deceitfulness harden your heart so that you walk

away from the promises and the commands of God.

It's today.

You can still enter.

It's today.

Still take warning.

And listen to me.

God addresses you.

Why is the writer saying it's still today?

Because he wants you to get the warning.

Listen.

The Scriptures have not been written to give us a history of people long ago and far away.

The Scriptures have been written to address you.

God doesn't just intend this warning for Israel at the Jordan and for David and his subjects

in 1000 BC.

Right?

He still intends it for you.

You listen.

That today continues to the present.

The rest is still available, but the warning is still there.

You pay attention to it.

But someone objects and says, Wait a minute.

God says that the next generation that went in with Joshua

got that rest.

I mean, we heard it this morning from Joshua 21, verses 43 through 45.

Again, listen to what the writer of Joshua says.

Time rests on every side, just as he had sworn to their fathers.

Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands.

Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed.

All came to pass.

So why in the world does he say the warning is still there?

That the rest still remains?

It says right there he gave Joshua and his people rest.

What do you do with that?

Well, listen.

The conquest, if you remember as you read through your Bibles, the conquest of Joshua gives way to

what?

The turmoil and the conflict of judges.

Not to mention all the wars and everything that happened with Saul's monarchy, right?

Do you not remember that?

It was only a short time of rest, and then pretty soon, you know what?

You read Judges.

Man, you read Judges.

There's all kinds of hacking and healing going on in that book, right?

Man, it's bloody.

Honestly, after preaching Revelation, I think the last book I'll ever preach is Judges.

Oh, man.

There is anything but rest in that book.

So what's going on?

The rest cannot be narrowed to a possession of Canaan and to short -lived respite from warfare.

It has to be more than that.

It has to be more than that.

Nor did the rest come in David's time.

David is warning his people.

Don't harden your heart.

But rest did not come in David's time, although in 2 Samuel 7, verse 1,

we read, The king lived in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his

surrounding enemies.

But David talks as if the rest is still available.

What is going on?

Our writer has told us.

The object of God's rest is his rest.

A future destination of unthreatened and

uninterrupted communion with God.

That's what he intended.

Unthreatened and uninterrupted communion with God, who has always been

resting from his creative labors.

That's what God intended.

And those rests that they experienced in the Old Testament, for as short a time as they did, were merely

pointers to a greater rest that was still to come.

They were pointers to that rest.

You see the writer doing this a lot in this book.

The Old Testament is always pointing forward.

Look at Hebrews 11 for a moment, just to give you some examples of how he's thinking, or

more to the point, how God sees the plan of redemption as he lays it

out.

Chapter 11, verses 8 -10,.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance.

And he went out, not knowing where he was going.

By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob,

heirs with him of the same promise.

For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose

designer and builder is God.

Even Abraham knew, okay, God's promised me this.

I'm not seeing it exactly.

There must be something else.

And then look at verse 13.

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and

greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.

If they had been thinking of that land from which they'd gone out, they would have had opportunity returned.

But as it is, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one.

Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

So there's a sense here in which a writer is saying, yes, there was a

rest, but it wasn't the rest of God.

It wasn't this uninterrupted rest.

It wasn't this unhindered rest.

That is still open.

Those other rests just point forward.

They say, ah, it's not quite there.

There's something more.

And so he tells us, strive to enter that rest because it still remains for the

taking.

Strive.

Why?

Because it's still there.

There's still ways to go.

Then he goes on in verses 9 and 10.

He says, strive because it's a Sabbath rest.

Strive for that rest because of what kind of rest it is.

Verses 9 and 10.

Now notice he uses a word, it is a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

Now, we equate the word Sabbath with cessation of all work, resting,

relaxing, but I also would suggest to you that most of all, most of all, we think don't

you dare do any work on the Sabbath or you'll get it.

Isn't that right?

Isn't that kind of how we look at the Sabbath?

Remember the story of the guy picking up sticks on the Sabbath day, just going around picking up sticks to start a fire?

What happened to him?

A bunch of people, the people of Israel, gathered around him and stoned him to death.

Right?

And then in Jesus' day, the Pharisees had made the Sabbath such a burden with all the

rules, making sure you rested.

Right?

But this Sabbath rest, interesting word, it's only used here in the entire New Testament

and it seems to have the idea, it's actually one word, Sabbath rest is actually one word and it carries with

it the idea of celebrating Sabbath.

There's no idea of any kind of trouble for violation rather than mere

cessation from labor.

It is a celebration of the joy and freedom we have with God.

It's the ultimate Sabbath, the true Sabbath, the wonderful Sabbath.

What's a relaxing day for you?

What's a relaxing day?

You know what it is for me?

I love mowing the lawn.

I absolutely love mowing the lawn.

My grandkids are not to mow the lawn to help us out.

I mow the lawn.

I mow the lawn, I love it, because I get to listen to my books there better than anywhere else.

Right?

I love to mow the lawn.

I don't know what it is for you.

It may be you get to work in your shop, you get to work in your wood shop, right?

You get to do things that you want to do.

You love doing that sort of thing.

It may be you're sitting on the front porch on a sunny, cool day reading the book you've always

wanted to read.

There's no turmoil, there's no job.

It's just sheer enjoyment of the day.

That's what he's driving at here.

That's the Sabbath rest that awaits us.

It's sheer joy.

No worries.

Right?

Sheer, uninterrupted, unhindered, unthreatened joy.

And then verse 10, he says it again.

It's God's rest.

And so, like God, we will rest from our labors.

God, since that seventh day millennia ago, has rested from his

creative labors.

God did not rest from those labors, by the way, because he was worn out and exhausted.

Afraid that's what a lot of people think.

Oh, God rested.

Yeah, that was a lot of work creating everything.

I bet he was tired.

No, he wasn't tired at all.

He rested because he had completed his work.

He had completed his work.

There was nothing more to create.

There was nothing more to call into existence.

It was all done.

It was it.

And so it will be for us.

We will have completed our work.

There will be nothing more for you to do.

Right?

Kind of get a hint of that in the text we heard from Revelation.

Right?

They're in this rest.

Those who have died in the Lord no longer have to labor.

Now, we, on the other hand, will rest from our exhausting labors in the wilderness of this broken and

hostile world.

But it will be sheer enjoyment.

It will be like God.

Everything will be done.

Everything will be completed.

There's nothing more to do.

Just nothing but sheer joy in the rest.

That's what awaits us.

So he says to us, strive to attain that rest, since you know what that rest is going to be like.

Is that worth striving for?

Strive for that.

And then the last thing he tells us in verses 11 through 13 is strive in the open.

Strive in the open.

Our pastor now tells us that we must strive, and that only happens in light of the work

of God's word as it exposes our hearts, and in light of the fact

that God knows us intimately.

Strive in the open.

With the word of God exposing your heart and knowing that God knows everything about you.

Now, remember, that rest comes as we strive.

That's what verse 11 is saying.

That rest comes as we strive.

And that shouldn't surprise us.

Jesus actually told us this a long time ago.

He said, enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is

wide, and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter it are

many.

For the gate is narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it

are few.

Now, he's not saying that it's hard because God's a hard taskmaster.

He's saying it because we live in a world that is always seeking to seduce

and entice us and to conform us into its image and to do all kinds of things.

That's what makes it hard.

It's not that Jesus is a hard taskmaster.

It's that we live in the wilderness where it's very, very difficult to cut

off those seductions and to move away from them.

And so he says to us, you must strive.

You must strive.

And I think in the context here, he's saying something like this.

You've got to strive if you don't want to develop a hard heart that will lead you

to disobedience.

You've got to strive so that you don't develop a hard heart

that keeps you from God's rest.

Remember what he said in chapter 3, verse 12, and I think this is a key verse.

In chapter 3, verse 12, man, this verse really opens up everything for me.

He says, take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the

living God.

But exhort one another every day, as long as it's called today, that none of you may be hardened by the

deceitfulness of sin.

Sin always entices.

Sin always promises something.

Sin is always saying there's gold at the end of the rainbow.

Go for it this way.

And we go for it, and it deceives us.

And sin says, okay, you didn't quite do it right.

Do it this way.

And so you go for it, and pretty soon the deceitfulness of sin hardens your heart.

You see?

And so he says, you've got to strive.

You've got to strive.

You have to fight the desires that so easily capture your attention.

Take the easy way out.

Take the easy way out.

Hey, pleasure.

What are we hearing all the time?

We live in a world that says to you, pleasure is the greatest good.

Your personal freedom is the standard by which to

judge everything.

If you want fulfillment, live with whatever you desire.

No one has the right to tell you you can't do what you want to do or be what you want to be.

Oh, no.

Don't let anybody tell you you can't be what you want to be.

That's not their right.

That's only you.

Right?

What's that going to do?

It's going to harden your heart.

You've got to fight the world which constantly opposes God and seeks to form your thinking and

your allegiances.

The world, our desires battle within us.

The world entices us from outside.

The world is constantly telling you, go this way.

That's so hard.

Do this instead.

Right?

And then, if that's not all, there's the forces of darkness that are arrayed against us.

Satan and everything else.

All of these are intent on moving you away from faith.

And obedience.

They're all intent on moving you away from those things.

And so you must strive.

You must strive to persevere in the faith.

And you've got to do the hard work of encouraging other Christians to endure.

None of this is just between God and me.

In fact, I would suggest to you that most of our Christian life is not just between God and me.

It's us and God.

And not only do we have to do the hard work striving to persevere in faith, but we

also have to do the hard work of encouraging one another to endure.

As others may be slipping away in the deceitfulness of sin and towards a hard heart.

What are you going to do to help?

That's hard work, isn't it?

That's striving.

And so we need to strive.

And then verse 12.

Now, we often take this verse to tell us how powerful the Word of God is.

And it is.

And it's okay to use the verse that way.

But in this context, he's saying something very clear here.

And that is you must strive with Scriptures in hand because Scriptures are going to reveal

your heart.

You have a heart that may be hardened.

So you need the Scriptures in hand in order to keep you from that hard heart.

How will you keep your heart from sin's hardening effects?

Only as the Word of God does its living, active, penetrating work.

That's how you keep from a hard heart.

The Scripture, he says, is living and active.

It has an inherent.

Power.

That cannot be thwarted in its work.

It's living and active.

It cannot.

Be thwarted.

It has this dynamic power.

It's.

No mere self -help book.

It's no mere self -help book, folks.

You know what?

And I love it.

The kids often come into my office, right?

And they do this number.

They come into my office and they go,

Pastor,.

Have you read all these books?

Right?

I tell them, no.

Most of them, but not enough.

Not all of them.

But I can pull any one of those books down from my shelves and they won't do what the Bible.

Can do.

I love.

History.

I think history's important.

We don't study history.

We won't understand the present.

But there isn't one history book, and there's a few good ones out there.

I could recommend them to you, but this is not the time or the place.

But none of those books have a living, dynamic power that will change me

or change the people who read them.

What the Bible does is it takes us apart.

It gives us the ability to understand things that we never understood before.

It gives me answers to the deepest questions I have, even the deepest questions of my

heart.

Why am I doing this?

It can tell you that.

It not only does that, it has power to change you.

All in.

The text of Scripture.

In fact, he says it's like a sword that cuts so deep and so accurately

that you find out things about yourself that even you didn't know.

Notice what it divides.

He uses these couplets, soul and spirit, joints and marrow, thoughts and intents.

Now, he's not trying to tell you what you're made up of.

He's not trying to tell you you're a three -part person, body, soul and spirit.

I mean, if we did that, we'd have to say body, soul, spirit, thoughts, intents.

Right?

That's not what he's doing.

What's the difference between soul and spirit?

Nothing.

What's the difference between thoughts and intents?

Nothing!

What's the point?

The Bible can divide that which is indivisible.

It is that penetrating.

The very things that no one can divide, the Bible can.

It can be so incisively important.

It can explain you and what you're doing and where you're headed more accurately than

any psychological textbook or system that's out there.

You need this book for keeping on the path to your Sabbath rest.

I remember one time I spoke to a men's group.

They asked me to come and speak to this men's group.

If I remember right, because this was years ago, I spoke on pride and I took a text from the

Scriptures and I opened it up.

A guy came up afterwards and said,.

Wow! That was.

So good!

Have you had training in psychology.

Or something?

What was inherent in that statement?

He had found explanations he had never dreamed of and he thought it was because I knew a lot.

But the only thing that happened was I just explained a text of Scripture.

It opened him up in a way that he hadn't been opened up before.

He couldn't explain it.

I said, No, it's not me.

It's not what training I've had.

It's the Bible.

This.

Is what did it.

Listen, this book opens you up.

This book opens you up.

But not only that, in verse 13 he says, but then you're open before God.

Not only does the book open you up, but you're open before God.

You're actually open before God.

You cannot hide from God.

I remember one time after we'd been out on the farm in Iowa we were leaving.

Calvin had been out there.

For a few weeks.

Probably a month or more.

We tended to let them be on the farm for quite a while.

We're going to leave.

We're all packed up.

We're all in the car.

He says, Where's Calvin?

I'll never forget that day.

We could not find him.

You know why?

He did not want to leave.

But we couldn't find him.

Now why can't you find someone?

Well, for one thing, you don't know where they're going.

Another thing, they could be in the cornfield totally hidden from view.

There's all kinds of reasons why we can hide things.

But you cannot hide from God.

You cannot hide from Him.

It's impossible.

He knows everything.

In fact, our Hebrews, our pastor, he gets almost embarrassingly

graphic when he says, What about us?

All are.

Naked and exposed.

It's as if you've got no clothes on.

I mean, come on.

We all wear clothes because we should.

But we all know that clothes also serve a purpose of hiding our imperfections.

No one knows about your varicose veins.

Right?

No one knows about the birthmark on your thigh.

No one knows about your awful, ugly feet.

Right?

No one knows that.

Why?

Because you can hide those things.

You can cover them up, but not with God.

It's like you're naked before Him.

There is nothing, absolutely nothing you can hide from God.

You can start down the road to sin's deceitfulness, and your heart can start getting hard.

You can hide that for quite a while from everybody.

You can keep that from people.

They'll never know.

Well, God sees all the imperfections.

You cannot cover any of them up in His sight.

And it's so much so that when you stand before Him, you will not say,

you will not say, what?

Me?

A hard heart?

No, you've got to be mistaken.

No, God won't be mistaken.

See,.

He can see it.

He can see every step you're taking.

Every step of deception that's going to harden your heart,.

He sees it.

Others may not.

He does.

What's the point?

The point is,.

Strive for that Sabbath rest.

In the open.

With the Bible opening.

You up, and you.

Open before God.

Keeping all that in mind.

That's what you must do.

You must strive for God's rest in the open.

Now look, we are involved right now in a wilderness war.

We live in the wilderness of a broken world.

Where.

Suffering happens.

Where it's not easy.

And we're involved in a warfare against the forces of the world, the flesh, and the

devil.

But God has promised us rest from it all.

But you're not going to just sail into that rest without effort.

You've got to strive for it.

You've got to strive for it.

You've got to walk the narrow way.

But listen,.

You can do it.

With the Bible.

Open.

And you open before God.

And you remembering.

All that He has done for you.

What has our writer.

Told us?

He has told us already in chapter two, that we have a Savior

who took on flesh and blood, became one of us, so He could be a faithful high priest.

You see?

Is it going to be hard?

Yes.

Yes, it will be.

But you will be empowered.

You will be energized as you remember that the one to whom you must give an account

has walked the same path.

He's a faithful and merciful high priest.

Because He's walked your.

Path.

So we can strive.

It's within our grasp.

And we can strive until we attain that rest.

May God help.

Us to do that.

Striving against a hard heart.

By believing.

The promises of God and looking to a great Savior.

Father, thank you for your word.

How good it is to see that you don't leave us in the dark about anything.

You tell us about these difficult things that we might look to you.

We thank you for your word which gives us, not just tells us what's wrong, but tells us what to do about it.

And gives us the power to do it.

Thank you that you're a God who sees everything.

Lord, that doesn't cause us to fear and to cower before you.

It causes us to say, God knows.

My heart. God knows my heart.

It causes us then to turn to this very same God for help.

So God help us to strive.

All of us this week will be striving against the deceitfulness of sin.

Give us the power to fight.

For your glory.

In Jesus name.

Amen.